World War II Documentary Double Feature: The Fight for the Sky (1945) / The Battle of London (1941)

THE FIGHT FOR THE SKY (1945): A bird's-eye view of World War II in the air over Germany! Watch as America's finest fighter planes - the P-47 Thunderbolt, the P-38 Lighting, and the P-51 Mustang - fly cover for the heavy bombers - the 4-engine B-17 Fortresses and the B-24 Liberators - on their final missions to destroy the Axis enemy in Europe. General Jimmy Doolittle had been waiting for a long time to unleash our fighters on Fortress Europa, and you've got a front view seat! First you'll get to know the men behind the cockpit ("They look like ordinary American boys…but look a little closer" says narrator Reed Hadley. "They're rugged individualists, these boys.") Though it's hard to rouse them out of bed after a night of partying ("Ho hum…can't they fight the war at a REASONABLE hour?" asks one) when they're in the air they're all business. Through the use of expertly edited footage shot by gun cameras and from the ground you'll see them take down the German Luftwaffe once and for all. This is the complete, unedited, 41-minute version of The Fight for the Sky narrated by Reed Hadley. A 20-minute edited version, narrated by Ronald Reagan, was shown in theaters and later on television. Hadley was later the star of the popular TV crime shows Racket Squad (1951-1953) and The Public Defender (1954-1955).

THE BATTLE OF LONDON (1941): This 16-minute film short showed in British cinemas during Christmas 1941, documenting the brutal attack by the German Luftwaffe on England's greatest city. Messerschmitt 109s duel with Spitfires in the sky as ordinary people suffer below, thanks to "the dictator who assumes divinity, while inflicting devilish cruelty." Despite this being London's darkest hour, there's still typical British absurdity on display, as when narrator Milton Cross notes a member of the Auxiliary Fire Service rescuing "a wax figure as carefully as he would a strawberry blonde." Ultimately it's a testament to the "can-do" nature of the British spirit. "Civilization will endure," says Cross, "because while London can take it - London can GIVE it, too!" Milton Cross is best known for being the voice of the Metropolitan Opera, hosting its Saturday afternoon radio broadcasts for over 40 years.